Cairo: The first group of illegal Indian workers in Kuwait left for home on Tuesday as part of a deportation plan running for 10 days, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported.
The 290-member batch left aboard a Jazeera Airways flight after they underwent preventive health measures and were given certificates stating they are free of COVID-19, according to the report.
The group is among about 6,000 illegal Indian migrants who had registered for repatriation under a pardon plan announced by the Kuwaiti government last month, security sources said. They have since stayed at government sheltering centres in preparation for repatriation.
A total of 42,000 Indians, violating residency rules, are believed to be in Kuwait.
The pardon offers the illegal expatriates exemptions from legal punishment and free home return flights.
Starting from Wednesday, three flights will be operated daily from Kuwait to take home the Indian works under the deportation plan that will last for at least 10 days, the sources told Al Rai.
Nearly 25,000 out of 168,000 illegals from different nationalities have benefited from the Kuwaiti pardon scheme.
